Good evening. This meeting is now convened. The time is 05:01PM. I would like to ask everyone to please silence all cell phones. A quorum of the Board members is present in the auditorium. I would like to welcome our public officials. We have U. S. Representative Sylvia Garcia here. Thank you for being here. I believe we also have U. S. Representative Christian Menefee here. Thank you. We have State Senator Carol Alvarado as well. Thank you Carol for being here. State Senator Molly Cook. State Representative Charlene Ward Johnson is here as well,
thank you. State Representative Lauren Ashley Simmons is here as well, thank you for being here. We also have State Rep. Penny Morales Shaw is here as well. We have HISD Trustees, Maria Benzon is here as well. Clasidio Gomez is here as well. Michael McDonough, Savant Moore, I believe is going to be here or will be here. We also have Donnie Hernandez as well. And former State Rep Jarvis Johnson is here as well. So, thank you for being here. Our first order of business today is to hear from speakers to agenda items.
Public comment during School Board meetings will only be available to those persons who have signed up to speak prior to the meeting time per current protocol. Verbal and other disruptions by persons during School Board meetings are not acceptable as they inhibit the Board's ability to conduct business and the public's ability to observe those processes. Persons who participate in such behavior will be given one warning and if the behavior is repeated, they will be asked to leave the meeting. We have 78 registered speakers tonight who will be limited to one minute each per Board policy as we have more than 30 people signed up to address the Board
tonight. We ask that you stay on topic and refrain from naming individuals, especially students as their identity is protected under the law. But you may name your own child. I ask that you please respect these procedures and the other speakers and end your comments promptly when your time has expired and the timer rings. Our hearing from speakers will begin with Group A. We will start with our public officials. Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia, would you please start us off tonight? Thank you. Thank you. And thank you to the Board and the chair and to all our family of
HISD. Thank you so much for the work that you do. I'm here tonight as a member of the Congressional District 29, and as someone who believes deeply deeply in neighborhood schools and the families, educators, and stakeholders who make them work. The proposal you see today will change children's daily lives and reshape communities. Decisions like that require real partnership real partnership with parents, teachers, and stakeholders. That did not happen here. Families in my district are telling me they were were completely blindsided.
Many felt the outcome was decided before they even had a chance to be heard. In my district, Briscoe Elementary, Franklin Elementary, and Port Houston Elementary are slated for closure. And Cage Elementary and McDaniel's McReynolds Middle School are being colocated. These are neighborhood schools where children feel known, supported, and safe. Now families are being told their kids will travel further to school, often along routes without sidewalks or safe crossings, and sometimes even having to cross freeways.
Safety cannot be an afterthought. You cannot say this is about students while ignoring how they will safely get to their schools. I said from the beginning that the states take over, strip parents and voters of their voice, and this moment shows us why that matters. Closing neighborhood schools without real public engagement disrupts families, weakens communities, and betrays the public trust. So I'm asking you to please, what is the rush? Can we just slow down a little bit, open up the process, and give our families,
our teachers, our educators, our stakeholders, and, yes, even our children, a say on how and when and where disclosure should occur. Let's make sure that those that are directly impact have real input. Give them real choices, and please take their concerns seriously. If the goal is to help students succeed, the path forward starts with listening to the people who know them best, and that's the children, the parents, teachers, and stakeholders. Thank you, and I urge you again to please pause. You won't be able to implement this until,
what, the next academic years, which is August. It's only February. There's time to pause this, get input, and rework whatever needs to be done. But I urge you, as a former judge who always believed in giving people the right to be heard, Give parents and teachers a right to be heard. Thank you. Thank you. Up next is congressman, Christian Menefee. Welcome. Hey. Good evening, congressman Christian Menifee. Very happy to be here. I'm here to ask y'all to delay this vote today. There is nothing more important than we are closing down,
a public school that a community relies on. In so many of these communities, this is the only safe haven for these students, and it matters so much to these parents. This is about giving kids the opportunity to be successful educationally, to go off and be able to do better things, but the disruption that you can bring to their lives if you close down a school is an incredibly big deal and it's a decision that not should not be taken lightly. Look. I know that there's been a couple of weeks of public hearings and there have been some conversations, but something of this magnitude requires so much more than that. When I was the Harris County attorney and we were making a decision that could
result in the closing of something public, weeks, months of conversations with the public so that they felt heard. So that the conversations were real and when they were expressing their issues, their doubts that they're being responded to, it was being seriously considered, and that it was injected into the decision making process. I think what I've heard from many folks about this process is that it seems superficial, is that it felt rushed. And as congresswoman just mentioned, this isn't going to happen for about a year anyway, so there's really no reason to push it through this quickly.
I'm here today to ask y'all to please delay this, give the folks who live in these communities the opportunity to have their voice heard. And, you know, I'll close with look. We all know that the takeover has not been very popular amongst the people who live in our communities. And part of the thing about a democratic form of government is people have the opportunity to come, to talk their stuff, to have their opinion heard, and the elected officials have to consider, are there consequences on the other side? When that's stripped out of the process by the state of Texas, it doesn't mean that y'all have to strip it out of the process when you're
making a decision like this. So my ask to y'all is that you delay. Let's continue the spirit of our democracy, which is allowing folks to have a fair opportunity to be heard in a real meaningful way. Delay this vote and and let them have a true conversation with you all about their feelings about closing down these schools. Thank you. Thank you. Up next, we have, I believe, State Senator Carol Alvarado. Do I see Carol here? Is she here yet? Okay. Well, we'll just we'll we'll wait until she gets here. Next then would be State Senator Molly Cook. Hi.
My name is Sierra Williams. I'm the committee liaison for Texas State senator Molly Cook. I'm delivering this comment on behalf of our office since she is currently working at the hospital. Senator Cook gave comment to this board just two weeks ago about the importance of transparency. Shortly after her comment, this board announced that HIC will be closing and collocating 12 schools throughout the district. Two of the effective schools are in Senate District 15. Boris Elementary School, which will be closed and consolidated into Kennedy Elementary and Pleasantville Elementary School, which will be which will have Port Port Houston Elementary School consolidated into it.
These closures happen without transparency or proper notice to parents. Our office has heard from multiple affected parents who are upset and confused. The closure of this school is deeply personal, and rushing the process has robbed our constituents of time to process. This is why senator Cook joined with senator Alvarado and senator Miles this week to send a letter urging you to delay this week's vote so that our constituents have the time to understand this proposal. In closing, I walked the halls of Boyse Elementary and Kennedy Elementary as a student, And now I am I have earned my bachelor's degree from HVSU and now earning my is generational. Thank you. Next up is, State Representative,
Charlene Ward Johnson. Members of the board, I am representative Charlene Ward Johnson, and I proudly serve House District 139. I come before the board today to oppose proposed campus closures and to discuss the closure of Burris Elementary specifically. Burrows Elementary sits in House District 139 in the historical Independent Heights neighborhood. Independent Heights community began around nineteen o five where black families purchased lots and built their own homes. A two room school was established in 1911.
Independent Heights became the first African American municipality in Texas when it was incorporated on 01/25/1915. Burris Elementary was created in 1911 to serve black students in the area. Burris Elementary has maintained the status of an a rated campus and produced outstanding graduates. And you thank it by closing it. You reward it by closing it. In 2020, the Independent Heights community experienced success when the Texas Historical Commission formally recognized the culture and
furthermore, voting to close the historic Burris Elementary, a long standing pillar of that community in a month that would be not in any month would be bad, but to close it during Black History Month is a slap in the face and and a direct attack on the black community. Doing so erases our history and displaces families in my district. I urge you to vote no, to oppose, and to say, we don't we wanna listen to the community first and vote no to close these schools. We want to be able to have a a voice.
We wanna be able to have our voices heard and a vote no. We're sure that you put the people first. Thank you. You. Thank you. Up next is, State Senator Carol Alvarado. Welcome. Okay. One minute. We give a deference to public officials. Okay. So you don't have one minute yet. Thanks. Thank you all very much, and a special thanks to the parents and community folks that are here. In 2011 let me just take you a little bit back in time. In 2011, the state budget forced cuts to HISD. At that time, four schools were closed.
Those were four elementary schools. And during that time, the financial outlook was very dire. And even still, that board, which was elected, weighed their options for months before deciding to close four schools. Fast forward, here we are. This board is scheduled to vote on closing 12 in a very short time. Half of these 12 are in my senate district. HISD families have been given only two weeks to absorb this news,
ask questions, and prepare their children for the transition. Important details such as how children will be bused and where faculty and staff will be placed are still up in the air. I was at the meeting at Cage last night, and I have to say, there was just a very short opportunity for the parents to ask questions. They stopped it, and there were maybe three people that still had their hands up. And they shut it down and asked everybody to pick a subject to go to.
I don't know why they just didn't let those few folks ask their questions. This is the latest in a pattern of policy making designed to minimize input from the public. It has the unintended consequences of minimizing the public's trust in the district. We recognize that HISD faces real challenges. We get that. We know that. We're all in this together. We want to be partners in tackling those tough issues.
Decisions this scale demand transparency, deliberation, and genuine genuine community input. My ask today is that this board, at a very minimum, delay this vote. Go to the parents, the students, teachers of these campuses. Make your case. Make sure that they are truly and fully informed. Take their feedback seriously. Move forward only after after you've done the work to be accountable to the people
that you serve. We recognize that the district is in impossible position. Let's also recognize the fact that per pupil spending in Texas still ranks among the lowest nationally. Governor Abbott's school voucher program is siphoning even more dollars out of the public education system. Enrollment is declining, and facilities are aging. This district has a credibility and trust issue. It has for some time.
And it was very evident during the 2024 bond program. Parents, teachers, community members are all up in arms about the school closures because of the lack of accountability. Even though HISD is not on the ballot, Voters are going to the polls very shortly, or they have, and in November, and will overwhelmingly vote for candidates who want to take back control of their schools. Thank you. Thank you. Up next we have State Representative Lauren Ashley Simmons.
Say we're up here. Okay. Next, we have here from HISD elected trustees, Doctor. Maria Benson. We all want thriving schools. That begins with trust, with transparency, with careful stewardship of taxpayer dollars. School closures may be necessary in a district facing declining enrollment or when the cost of renovating and updating aging facilities becomes unsustainable. I understood that when I ran for trustee. These are hard decisions, serious decisions,
community shaping decisions, but they cannot be rushed. They cannot come with two weeks notice. They cannot move forward without authentic engagement with the families whose lives will be disrupted. Right now, many parents feel unheard. Many teachers feel dismissed. That erosion of trust makes every future decision harder, including a bond the district will eventually need. As the duly elected trustee for District 5, I stand ready to do this work,
to listen to families, to weigh the data carefully, to ensure that fiscal responsibility and student well-being move together. Local accountability matters. Community voice matters. Tonight, I respectfully ask you, do not move these closures through the consent agenda. Slow down. Open the dialogue. Let the community be part of the decision. Thank you. Thank you. Next up is trustee Gomez. I urge you all to vote no on this plan to close schools and force the superintendent to engage with us before submitting another one.
Community engagement to some might sound like pablum, but it means getting local knowledge on railroad crossings and pathways to school. It could mean partnering with local and state government to get funding for sidewalks or grade reductions at railroads if school closures create that need. It could mean making a deal with Union Pacific about their train schedule. Or if you're feeling really bold and courageous, it could mean asking parents why NES schools have declined in enrollment faster than other schools. If you vote to approve this plan on two weeks notice with no community input, I ask respectfully, what do you think is the point in even having a board?
Because I was under the impression that it was to represent the vision and values of this community. But maybe I'm wrong. Right? Maybe you've completely given up on the idea that productive conversation is even possible. I have not given no. For that reason, I urge you to vote no or at a minimum delay this vote, give us the opportunity to talk about a very consequential decision to close 12 schools. Thank you. Up next, trustee McDonough. Good evening. The other person is always right, right about their feelings, their fears, and the experiences they carry with them. If we want actual communication,
we must first travel to that place of right because without that step, trust is impossible. Currently, the continued practice of viewing the community as an adversary or a nuisance to be endured will not leave this organization better than you found it. Strictly choosing data over dignity, efficiency over empathy, and paternalism over partnership will not get us there. As the elected trustee for District 6, I default to optimism. I am eager to work alongside you so that we can ensure the district is in prime condition to serve the families of our city.
This is complex work. Tough decisions and meaningful community involvement are not mutually exclusive. They can and should happen together. Yes. That process takes longer. Yes. It is harder, but it consistently leads to better decisions. Education is personal. Everyone has their own k 12 experience and believes they understand what is needed. And for those with experience serving on boards or making high level decisions, it can feel straightforward. But this is not abstract work. This is the human element inside a massive organization.
It is complicated, it is emotional, and it deserves respect. Respect means slowing down, answering hard questions, engaging those most impacted, and pushing always for the benefit of the true users of this system, our children and their families. Thank you. Thank you. We have Trustee Samant Moore here. I didn't see him. Okay. How about Trustee Donnie Hernandez? Good evening and buenos noches. My name is Donnie Hernandez. I am the elected trustee for District 3 in HISD. I am here to ask you to at least delay the vote,
if not, vote no to closing the 12 public schools. We all understand that enrollment has gone down in HISD. We understand that public schools need to close in order for HISD to move forward. However, the manner in which HISD is proposing for you, the board of managers, to close this these schools is not okay. The lone star governance ask you to do community engagement. Lone star governance, which is part of the exit criteria, requires you to go out to the community.
For not just closing schools, but for multiple things. That was not done for this process, and it is not okay to go out and not be transparent for the community and ask for the community to not want their schools. This violates violates basic public trust and transparency. We know eight years ago that LBB told us to close schools. Communities need to be heard when closing schools and there needs to be a process. HRISD's own policy for charter schools says that the community needs to be notified by
October 31. That didn't happen with HISD's own proper schools, and I can't fathom why HISD would not want to give that same courtesy for HISD parents and community. And if you're thinking, oh, we had community meetings at the schools that are closing. Guess what? Those were not community meetings. I went to one. Not only was I denied entrance to the community meeting and had to make calls to get in, my child is supposed to be attending that school in August.
Those were not community meetings. Those were meetings for parents and legal guardians. So that cannot be said as, hey. We checked the box because we had meetings. Those were not community meetings. That was informational meetings only for parents. And, again, this is not about closing schools in general. We know that HISD needs to close schools. The process is what needs to change. The process is what needs to be ramped up. We have there's lots of research on what other districts have done in order to
close schools and go out to the community. Look those up. They're they're out there. Other districts have closed schools and done it in the right way. We hope that you can do that as well. Even though that you're not elected, you're still representing us. Thank you. Have a good evening. Thank you. Next will be former State Representative Jarvis Johnson. How many of you have children in any of these schools that are being proposed to close? Cousins, grandchildren, or even close personal friends. When you don't have empathy and you don't feel what the people feel,
you can't make decisions that's in the best interest of the people. I've always said that you can't fix a problem with the same mindset that created it. The state takeover scheme was devised by governor Abbott to use children as pieces on the board of his political chess game. Governor Abbott used the old Republican tactic of manufacturing a problem to sell to his base that HISD, which was a b plus rated school, had major problems. But now the issue falls squarely on your shoulders. You're wanting to close schools because of low enrollment as the as the city of Houston's population swells.
Make that make sense. But you're saying that this is a business business business decision and is losing money, and you haven't addressed why the district has lost a net 13,000 students, the equivalent of what is considered a large district in the state of Texas since the illegal state takeover. Parents are making a conscious decision to leave the district because they have lost confidence in the ability to educate their children. Other ISDs and charter schools are happy because their enrollment is swelling while HISD is declining. Is that by design? Since you're acting like children or or dollar signs and not students that are nurturing,
looking for nurturing environments to learn, what are you doing to bring them back? What confidence are you giving the parents that their children are in nurturing learning environments so they can grow? What magnet programs have you put in place, to attract parents and students back to these schools? What have you done to ensure that the students are happy learners and enjoy coming to school? What have you done what have you done for parents to ensure that they're confident that their voices are being heard? What have you done to stop the hemorrhaging of qualified experienced teachers from leaving and replacing them with inexperienced ones that are only loyal to you through fear and not
through the love of teaching. Closing schools is not the answer. Changing your authoritarian way is. None of you are accountable to the people because none of you were elected. But I must remind you and remember that the pendulum of politics will swing back to democracy, and you will no longer be on this board, but you still will have to live and do business in this city. And you will be remembered for the harm that you have done to these communities. So let's remember, taxation without representation will not be accepted. So I'm urging you to vote no on any school closures at this particular time.
Our children are not dollar signs. They're students, and they need nurturing environments to learn, not simply looking at them as dollar signs. Bring the students back that you lost, bring the teachers back that you lost, and watch the parents and the children come back to our schools. Thank you. Thank you. Next, we'll hear from speakers who have identified themselves as HISD students or parents. Speakers, please state your name and your topic, and when you step up to the microphone, Ms. Smith, you may call our first set of speakers. Could I ask all students and parents to move to the front two rows,
please? We'll start with Naya Dewart followed by Ella Taylor. Hi. My name is Naya, and I'm 10 years old. I would be so angry if they closed my school without talking to my parents. Mike Miles, you even refused to come talk to the city and city council about this. Why? And now the plan is to close 12 schools that are being voted today on today, and we have no say. That feels like you're rushing this through. Why are you rushing? You are having a fake commune you are having fake community meetings for thirty five
minutes where you tell us your plan, but you don't listen to us. You have made your decision alone, and that is unfair. We speak to you at every meeting, but you don't seem to care. Why won't you listen to us? Thank you. Hi. My name is Ella Taylor. I'm speaking for a mom from Port Houston, Reine Gueron. This speech was originally in Spanish. She's hurt and angry because the district has not been clear or honest with her community. Port Houston School is the heart of our neighborhood. It is a safe space for our children and and for parents like us. It is the only public building in our community.
At Port Houston, teachers know our kids and care for them. Our children are supported and helped every day, And we see them grow at school and as people, but they've learned but they learned so much more before the takeover. This decision is very serious. It affects our children in any part every part of their lives, and it was made without listening to us. We were not asked. We were not included. We deserve respect. We deserve answers, and our children deserve to keep their school. Thank you. If there are no other student speakers here, we'll move on to number one. Eddie Brito. Parents. You said you wanted high performing schools, yet you give them to the private sector.
You liar. You say students are progressing, but your data only focuses on the median students across small samples. You liar. You say sped and transportation are getting better, but my personal experiences would beg to differ. You liar. You tout AI future schools as the best but can't provide effective cybersecurity for laptops. You liar. You call engaged parents unprofessional conspiracy theorists, but now you have the professionals calling you out on our behalf and you hide. You liar. You are the reason for enrollment declines.
Your biggest claim. ZIP code is no longer a child's destiny. Closing these schools goes against that. You liar. Thank you. Up next is up next is, is trustee Savant Moore. So, go ahead. Thank you. Good evening. My mother is 79 years old. She told me to ignore those that ignore you. But I'm a do something better. I'm a forgive you. I offer everyone on this board a free Airbnb for a week. I want you to take the same bike path that my daughter takes to a HISD school and the train blocks it,
and yet there's district policy where my daughter is marked absence even though this corporation knows that she goes to this school every morning, Monday through Friday. My own cousin should not be texting me that she has a special education grievance since September 2025. And see, it's special because this cousin I met through ancestry.com because I've never met my biological family. And yet my first time, my experience with my biological family is this district hurting me.
Forty years, I still have not met my biological mother. And so my first experience with the blood that runs in my vein is this district hurting them. They elect officials because we live in our district. So it's always interesting to me that people on this diets are making decisions for Northeast Houston, and you don't live in Northeast Houston. Lastly, we know that these schools are gonna close. We know that we need to bond. What I'm asking respectfully, if you are in real estate,
abstain from this vote because the optics just do not look right. They don't look right. So respectfully abstain from the vote today. And to every voter, vote so that this never happens again and that we fight for public education. Now let me go win the state race. God bless you. Thank you. Laura Henry. Speaker two, Laura Henry. I'm Laura Henry speaking on behalf of Mary Lou Carmona, a Port Houston mom. This speech was hers originally in Spanish. I have been living in this community of Port Houston for twenty years.
I am one of the moms who sixteen years ago walked with her son to school in summer and winter, but this was not an obstacle to educating my son when I had a school near my house. I did not have a vehicle, but if my son or his teacher needed me, I could be there in five minutes. I have been a volunteer since I enrolled my son in school because we are people of values that like to serve. This community cannot stay without a school. Do not marginalize these families anymore. We are low income but hardworking, honest, good citizens who pay fees and taxes. Mister Miles,
do not let us be deleted from the map. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. My name is Vianae Torres. I am a parent of two p t two Port Houston Elementary Students. And I just wanted to say, as you may know, Port Houston is a b rated school. Y'all are wanting to transfer students to Pleasantville, which will be a c rated school. That's a huge, great, difference. And, unfortunately, we we did a walk from Port Houston Elementary to Pleasantville. In that walk, we recorded the walk over there. It's very unsafe. There's loose dogs.
It's it takes about thirty minutes to walk over there. With children, it would take more. Our school is improving. We are a B school. Do not move us to Pleasantville. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Cindy Cura. I'm here representing Port Houston as a mall. So we have many Hispanic community in our area. Our children, they walk every day to school like they mentioned it. We did a walk for thirty minutes. It's on a safety area. So there's not gonna be a twenty four seven transportation. What about when our kids when our kids get sick,
who's gonna take us? Is the transport transportation gonna take us? Is the schools gonna take us? Are they gonna be waiting for us to pick up our kids? No. So we're gonna have to walk on extremely heat, raining days that is gonna take us thirty minutes to walk and thirty minutes to come back. And the question is, do y'all really think the problem is the HISD or the closures? No. I honestly and with all the respect, mister Miles, I think honestly the problem is you because you're not considering the family, the kids, and everybody.
So if I were you, I would consider it. Standing with Elizabeth Silvar, a mom from Port Houston, and I'm speaking on behalf of another parent who wasn't able to come. We were told our school would close because it's in a poor condition, but why? We pay our school fees, yet the district hasn't maintained it. We were also told enrollment is low, but as a volunteer, I know we were just two to three students below our target. We were told children should go to Pleasantville, which has a lower rating and a bullying problem, and that only kids more than two miles away would get transportation. But the walking route is dangerous for those closer,
fast cars, incomplete sidewalks, and stray dogs. Port Houston is not just a school that teaches math, reading, science. It is a community and second home. It is a school that is teaching our children principles like self love and respect. Mister Miles, closing a school that is full of value and wisdom is never a good thing. And, Angela, what would happen at Kinkade if you tried to close that school down and gave them two weeks notice? Thank you. Members. My name is Daisy. I am a parent, community member, and a proud alumna of Port Houston Elementary. I I am asking you to reconsider the proposed closure of our school.
We were told enrollment was short by two students. Mind y'all, two students. How does missing a target by two children justify closing an entire campus? We were also told the building is only utilized by 64%. But when you walk our halls, classrooms are full. Teachers are teaching and students are learning. I invite y'all to walk those classroom halls. How was that number calculated? Was it verified in person? Our school is rated a b. Our students are achieving. Our teachers are committed. Before recommending closure, what specific support did HISD provide? Was there was there a target improvement plan,
additional funding, enrollment outreach? Our chances are not numbers on a spreadsheet. And then there's safety. We walk the route our the route our children will be expected to take for the other campus. It took us thirty minutes. You expect the child to walk thirty minutes. Thank you. Last week at the invite only destination transformation conference, Alex Elizondo described the idea that community input leads to buy in as a fairy tale. It was not set in a room where the communities being discussed were present. Tonight, you are voting to close or displace 12 schools.
10 of those 12 are NES campuses, the superintendent's signature transformation model. NES campuses are down about 20% in enrollment compared to 11% in non NES schools. Is this the destination you're looking for? Is this the transformation? Consider that the real fairy tale is believing you can dismiss community input and expect communities to stay. I know you've been told that you are here to do the hard things an elected board can't or won't do. The hard thing is to grapple with the impacts of the decisions you're making.
It's to sit at the table with the people living them. Delay this vote and go. Thank you. Up next, hang on one second. We have a State Representative that has come. So state representative Penny Morales Shaw is here, so welcome. Thank you, appreciate that Mr. Campos. First I just want to recognize you, each of you. I know you have a difficult task of being here and carrying out Abbott and Marath's orders and, especially hurting your own fellow Houstonians and kids and dedicated educators by the decisions that are made by this board.
You're here allegedly, each of you, not because we chose for you to be here, but because you allegedly are going to save HISD. It's truly sad to see, with all of the great minds here that this is the only tool you have to improve HISD, to close doors and hurt more families and teachers. Let me ask you, did you survey the parents? Did you survey the teachers? Did you survey did you bother to survey the administrators of these schools? You don't have to answer that because they've already called me. Before this takeover, HISD was a B plus school district and since the takeover we've only seen one
bad decision after another. We've seen parents ignored repeatedly. Teachers run away from their schools and their students, thousands of them. And students unhappy and dissatisfied and having to adjust to a robotic schedule, hallway rules, and classrooms. Members, we went to these schools. Well, maybe not you, Mike, but the rest of us went to these schools. And we simply want the same benefit and advantage that we had in the security and safety of our schools. That's all we're asking for.
We want our children and our families and our neighbors to have stability in their communities. We all know the many obstacles, that families are facing now with limited health care access, all sorts of things, housing obstacles, affordability. There's so many more that everyone's having to deal with. And this is just you are just creating one more obstacle to to disrupt the security of each of these families and the teachers who work in these schools. Please know that that's what this decision will cause. We implore you to do what you claim to be here to do,
to make HISD better. Serve our teachers, serve our students, serve the administrators, the janitors, all of them. Not by taking away schools and deleting more valuable student programs, but rather in a way that is meaningful and supportive of your own neighbors. I'm not here to ask you to delay this. I'm asking you to take it off the table completely. Thank you. Student Aubrey Barr followed by parents in group a. Good afternoon. My name is Aubrey Barr. I'm an HISD student and a big sister to a five year old little who?
And a big sister to a five year old boy with autism who attends Betsy Ross Elementary. I need you to understand some I need you to understand something before you make this decision. For children with autism, stability is not a is not a preference, it's survival. My brother started three started there at three years old in special education pre k. He struggled to communicate. He struggled with change. Some days were overwhelming for him, but his teachers didn't treat him like a problem to manage. They they learned him. They learned what calmed him. They built trust, and they built trust with him. And trust for a child with autism is not easy.
It takes time. It takes patience, and it takes consistency. Because of that stability, he is now in general education. He has friends. He feels safe. He is proud of himself. That didn't happen because of a building. It happened because of a support system that knows him. And now you're considering tearing that apart over attendance numbers? So I have to ask you, when you calculated enrollment percentages, did you calculate the cost of When you close a school serving special education students, you are not reassigning them. You are destabilizing them. You are asking children who struggle with changes to absorb the biggest challenge possible.
My brother is not a statistic. He is not an efficiency problem. He is a child who finally feels secure in his learning environment. Autistic students do not need disruption, they need protection. Please make a decision that's that oh, that sacrifices their stability for numbers instead of numbers on a page. Thank you. We're ready to hear from HSD parents on Zoom. Audrey Naff. We're moving to Zoom for HIC parents. Audrey Naff, please turn your camera on. Hello. I am Aubrey Nath, the parent of two students at h
and I am speaking out against the 12 school closures. I'm very concerned that by increasing those distances that these children have to walk, they are have crossed some very dangerous roadways and even railroad tracks in order to get to school. And I'm disappointed that there was just a complete lack of transparency in letting the community know about these closures. Please reconsider. Thank you so much. Thank you. Kelsey Ennis, please turn your camera on. You may begin speaking. Oh. Is Audrey speaking? No. Please go ahead. Okay. Hi. My name is Kelsey.
I'm a parent of two students at Lantrop Elementary. The first communication that we have with the district about our collocation with Cage was at a school meeting yesterday evening. I had to sign up to speak here before noon yesterday, before that meeting happened, and now you're supposed to vote on the final decision. The speed of this is alarming. It is suspicious and is what you do when you are doing something shady. Now we didn't vote for you on the board. Maybe Jen speaking. We we didn't vote for you on the board, but you are successful, respected people, and I'm here as a parent appealing to your sense of pride.
Your reputation says you're capable of better work than this, and I'm appealing to your sense of shame because it is not right to treat children at communities like this. And board of managers, if you would have pride or shame, I would like to appeal to your sense of self preservation. You took this role on because you have further ambitions, whether they're political, business, or civic. And we, the parents of HISD, and the citizens of Houston will remember if you understand this message. You will rightfully take care of your time as well. It's fair that it's always me. Do the right thing. Thank you. Thank you. This concludes our group a speakers.
Okay. We have a presentation from the administration. Superintendent Miles, you have the floor. And I'll remind the audience that you'll get one warning then you'll be asked to leave after that. So there's a presentation being made. There's a lot of people online and people in the audience that need to hear this. So please respect our rules. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. I'd like to invite Deputy Superintendent Christen Holt to provide a brief update on item one, authorization to explore partnership with Collaborative for Children. Deputy Superintendent Holt.
Hello, board members. This is a brief overview of the 1882 partnerships for pre k. It's an overview of what an 1882 partnership is and why we are pursuing it. Alright. Sorry. The it was stuck on the side. Okay. So the goal of our eighteen eighty two pre k partnerships is to expand high quality pre k opportunities for our three and four year old students, so that more students are entering into kindergarten with a strong start. The way a pre k eighteen eighty two partnership works wait a second. It's okay. Just look at it. I can still speak to it. Is so the way a preteen eighty eighteen eighty two partnership works is HISD will
enter into a contractual agreement with a hub partner. You can think about this as a nonprofit entity that exists, in this case, Collaborative for Kids. That hub partner can go and enter into agreements with non HISD schools that serve pre k students. So, you can think about this as, maybe a day care that has, small babies but also serves pre k. And so they can go to those non HISD schools and dual enroll them in HISD pre k while they remain at that school. When you enter into an 1882 partnership,
we can provide additional funding to those non HISD schools to support their pre k program. And so typically, when we've looked at some example contracts across other districts and across the state, it might look something like, we receive a set of money from the state for 1882. 80% of that might go to the non HISD school to support precay at their school. 10% might go to the hub partner, and 10% might go to HISD to support administration because you still have to do a set of things around attendance and, a number of other, administrative things. So, when we enter into these agreements,
if you go to the next slide back there, there's a couple big benefits for all of the parties that are involved. First is increased funding. So, these non HISD schools, these community schools get additional funding to support their existing programs. When we are thinking about these partnerships, the non HISD schools are still operating pre k. It's their teachers. It's their building. It's their facilities. This just gives them additional support and funding to improve their programming. The second thing that it does is it improves instructional outcomes for those students. So we can both provide additional support to those
organizations, whether that be curriculum, training, assessment supports, and ensure that those students who are at those institutions are, pre k students are getting stronger instruction prior to coming to kindergarten at HISD. And finally, it just allows us to engage HISD families earlier, and help ensure that they know what their options are across HISD as they transition into pre k. And so the board item today is focused on allowing us to start, contract negotiations with this HUB partner. And then the next step would be to, come with a contract prior to the March board meeting to enter into this HUB
partnership. But overall, the hope really is truly to support, more pre k students across the city. Any questions? Go ahead. Thank you. Do you have, target seats? So when you say this one partnership, what's the goal? Like, how would how how many seats would we think would come out of this? It really is gonna depend on the hub partner's ability to reach, different organizations. We actually are also going to be talking with the Texas Workforce Commission who has a set of data that helps identify where our students at. These, childcare partnerships so that we can go ask them,
hey, do you want to be part of this hub model? And then we can really approach those different spokes. You might call them different spokes to see if they're interested. But because it's not our seats, it's not our teachers, it really can be, it can grow as big as as, the spokes are willing and are interested to grow. Thank you. Is this an exclusive partnership? Or would it be an exclusive partnership between HISD and Collaborative for Children? At this time and at this moment, they are the organization that has applied. We did a call. We posted a call for different organizations to apply,
and they were the one that submitted an application and that, was selected. There's nothing that excludes a district from having more hubs, but, in terms of their ability to respond to the call, they are the ones that responded. Thank you. Can you remind us, who has responsibility over background checks, safety of the children? Is it part of collaborative or the actual at this point in time, no details have been written out. That is that will be the next phase of the work, is that we continue to do this work. There are some requirements that the childcare partners do have to meet,
in just how the state defined the quality pre K. So there's going to be certain things that the teacher has to meet. And, again, these institutions are typically already running pre k programs. It's, our ability to just support them in their existing operations. So let me add to that. Our standard process is that our ethics department would, make sure that the vendor is doing the appropriate background checks if they have contact with kids. I know I've heard you talk before about the importance of getting more kids into pre k three, pre k four.
Obviously, literacy effects are huge. Do you expect this to expand the availability of pre K3 and pre K4 to more students in our district? Absolutely. The hope is to ensure that more students have access and support to pre K, yes. And I guess help me understand a little bit the mechanism. This is not just now there's more money for kids who are already in these programs. We're talking about making more seats available for students, making more fun more funding available for students. So whenever we talk about a spoke,
we'll talk about our the, organization we're partnering with as the hub and the different schools that they work with as the spoke. Because it's an 1882 partnership, we get additional money from the state, and then that spoke gets additional money more than they currently have. So that could allow them to open more seats at their spoke, if that makes sense. Thank you. Any other questions? Okay, great. Thank you. Mr. President and members of the Board, I'd like to invite Monica Dreyesuske to come up and talk about the school closures. Before she gets started, let me just give a short preamble.
You may recall that when this administration and Board of Managers got here in December 2023, one of the questions I was asked was, are you going to close the schools? And the reason that question was asked on multiple occasions was the elected board had a list of schools to close and there's a long story behind that, but in any case they punted it and said, you know, let the Board of Managers handle it. And I said in that summer,
look, we're not gonna close schools because we don't know enough about those schools. And the story was at that time, there were 121 D and F campuses, most of them in underserved areas and a lot of schools whose buildings had some tough facilities, the schools the facilities of which had not been invested in for quite some time. And I said at that time that look, the worst thing we can do is close community schools because I believe in the community school process.
However, the schools that had not been invested in were losing enrollment already, and a lot of people were leaving because of the academics. And I said, look, let's let's give it a chance for us to get the academics right so that we're not closing schools because they are failing schools and people are leaving them. If we have to close schools, let's close them because of the facilities, not because of the academics. And lo and behold, if you look at the 12 schools, I believe all of them were D or F back in 2023. And now most of them,
if not all, are A, B or C schools. And so we can be very proud of the fact that this team and those teachers and those kids and those families did do a good job of bringing up the academics. So we're not in a position of closing A and B schools or good schools academically. And I've resisted bringing to the board a list of schools for three years, even though most people had expected schools to close.
And not only have we resisted waiting three years, but there are, if you look at the list of schools and the conditions of our facilities, and everybody knows this to be the case because we get beat up every winter for heating, we get beat up every summer for cooling, and we go around at 04:30 in the morning trying to repair and make sure our kids at least have heat and air conditioning when they need it. So everybody knows this. And there's over 40 schools
facility wise, that could possibly be closed if we weren't if we did it just by the numbers, just by the data. But we're not doing that. We are bringing the schools that we think are just not good or just not safe for kids. And I'm talking about the facilities, right? We have schools with some structural issues that are safe right now, but the excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me. As we talked earlier, please, please, let the superintendent finish.
And so, it's a tough decision, we recognize that, but we've gotten to the point where the school facilities to repair them is so much more expensive than replacing them at the end of the day. It's like a car that you have to keep replacing the transmission or something like that. At some point, you have to stop. And in a couple of places, they will be a problem, a danger problem just a year from now, two years from now, and we can't afford to do that besides the enrollment problem.
So we'll talk through our rationale and the decision making process, which was not done lightly and what we've done to kind of adjust based on the input we've received. And Chief of Staff, Monica Grajewski, will do that. Thanks. Let them advance it from the from the room. Okay. Just say advance. Good evening, board members. This evening, I will be providing you with an update on the administration's recommendation to close twelve schools, 11 physical facilities. Throughout this presentation, I will discuss the decision making framework utilized to identify the impacted campuses.
I'll share more information regarding the campus specific proposed actions, the program offerings at the receiving campuses, family and staff engagement done to date, and additional logistical information and next steps. The district is making the difficult decision to close schools in order to sustainably set students up for long term success academically in safe and healthy facilities. This is a necessary action to ensure the long term strength, sustainability, and quality of education is ensured for our students. If the proposal is approved,
our focus for the next two months will be to continue to ensure families and staff have the information and support they need for an effective transition. Our decision making framework was thorough and focused on three key data points, the quality of the facility, the enrollment, and the building utilization. Our guiding principles were applied during various stages and steps of the review process to ensure we are minimizing disruption by moving students to nearby safe and higher quality facilities. As the superintendent referenced,
we did start by looking conducting a thorough data review. We used a rigorous methodology and systematic process in order to come to the final recommendation of 12 schools. HISD has many aging facilities and declining enrollment, which has been declining for over a decade. When you consider enrollment, building facilities, and utilization rates, there are many schools that could be on a potential closure list. However, our aim was to minimize the disruptions as much as possible. From over 50 that met an initial set of criteria based on the data above,
the 12 schools selected have nearby schools with higher quality facilities, the space to accommodate more students with comparable and expanded program offerings, and, additionally, there isn't a reasonable path forward for increasing enrollment in those areas based on the demographic projections that we have. So here you see a map with the locations of the closing campuses. And these campuses have been experiencing enrollment declines for several years. And, again, the demographic data demonstrates that these geographic enrollment.
Economic mobility, high mobility rates, population shifts, as well as federal policy. We also know that urban districts nationally and in Texas are experiencing enrollment declines, and many have also made the difficult decision to move forward with school closures as a result. On the next slide, you see that this map layers on the receiving campuses in blue. I wanna highlight the proximity of the receiving campuses to the closing campuses. The average distance between the closing and the receiving campuses is 1.86
miles. And we did hear at all of the family meetings the concerns around transportation, and I will be sharing and addressing that, in a subsequent slide. Our student safety is very important, and we have made an adjustment as far as transportation goes that I'll share here momentarily. And we know, of course, that this will impact families differently based on where they live within the current zone. I'd next like to share with you all specific data for each individual campus impacted campus. So on this slide, apologies for all the numbers,
but we wanted to give you a comprehensive look at the data. So here you see a summary of the closing school data on the left, the receiving school data on the right hand side of the slide, and the proposed actions. And I specifically wanna call your attention to the enrollment change, the five year enrollment change, as well as the school size. The schools recommended for action have either been small for the past five years or have seen a significant enrollment decline over the past five years and are in a
low quality declining facility that we know over time will progressively become more and more expensive to maintain. The receiving campuses are nearby and in all but two cases have higher FCI. When we operate multiple underutilized campuses in the same area, we continue carrying a high number of redundant operating and maintenance costs annually, and the consolidation allows us to direct capital strategically to higher utilized facilities rather than spread it thinly across declining enrollment sites.
On this slide, I will focus on the program offerings that will be available to our students from the closing campuses transitioning to the receiving campuses. As we've been making our decisions, our commitment has been to, at minimum, maintain similar or comparable program offerings, and where possible, offer expanded program offerings at the receiving campuses. So specifically, I'd like to call your attention to the closing of Briscoe and the transition of those students to Carrillo Elementary.
Both campuses are currently p are PUA campuses and will continue to be PUA campuses at the consolidated site. They will continue to offer the dual language programming to the students attending the receiving campus. And Carrillo has a current Vanguard Gifted and Talented magnet, that students now from Briscoe will essentially have access to as part of the expanded program offerings. Burris and Kennedy, both of those are NES campuses. So the Burris students moving to Kennedy Elementary will continue to receive the NES instructional
model that they are familiar with and that they have been successful with, as well as the dual language programming and fine arts programming will continue to be offered via electives or dyad. On the next slide, I wanted to call your attention to our collocated sites. And so as a reminder, a collocation means that there will be two distinct schools operating within one facility. So they'll have a different principal. The their teachers will move with them, so they'll continue to have that continuity, both of staffing as well as of programming.
You'll see that the co located campuses will maintain their individual campus programming at their new facility, and there will not be a change at the host site as well. They will continue to maintain the programming that they have been, experiencing over time. Here I wanted to call your attention to, the consolidation of Fleming and McReynolds Middle School that will be colocated with, Mickey Leland. We have a very successful STEM magnet at McReynolds Middle School currently. We will be transferring that magnet program to the consolidated site,
again expanding access to that successful STEM magnet to more students as a result of this consolidated middle school. And similarly, fine arts programming will continue to be offered via electives. I also a question that came up, at many times throughout the the parent sessions was around, class sizes. And so, we are committed to continuing to review and manage enrollment to maintain appropriate class sizes in alignment with our HISD recommended student teacher ratios, to ensure students continue to receive strong instruction and individualized support.
Another, another theme that came up at all of the family meetings was around special education services. And so we really wanna make sure to emphasize that all students will continue to receive their special education services in accordance with the law and their IEPs, their individualized education plans, and we will be planning and working with these families for these student transitions in the spring. So next, I wanted to be sure to share with the board, updates regarding the engagement we have done with families at the impacted campuses as well
as the staff to provide them with relevant information and support. So first here, I wanna make sure to emphasize that the meetings that we held, were for families, parental guardians of students at the impacted campuses. So we have held family meetings at all the closing sites, the receiving sites, as well as the colocation sites. And, additionally, all families will have received follow-up emails with specific important information on their campus. The divisions and school offices are in the process of reaching out to each family
individually to ensure they have a personal touch point and get any individualized questions answered. We will continue to provide this type of service throughout the spring to support the transition. And so you see here a summary of key themes that came up during the meetings, and so I will, take some time to to touch on many of these through the remainder of the presentation, like transportation, facilities readiness, staffing, as well as student safety. So transportation, again, was one of the most commonly heard topics that came up at the family meetings,
and student safety is of utmost importance to us. And so as a result of what we heard from families and the input received during the meetings, HISD will provide a direct bus from the closing school to the receiving school for all interested students regardless of their eligibility for two years. Families will be able to request this transportation via survey that will be shared in May. I next wanted to share with you information on what we have done to support
our impacted staff with this transition. So our human resources team have also met with the staff at each of the closing campuses. Common topics and questions as you see here included placement and selection, contracts and employment, and program and role continuity. The team was able to answer commonly asked questions, collect preference information for from staff members to support placements. The HR team is compiling a structured placement pool based on the preference survey to match eligible staff with open positions.
And so staff at closing campuses will receive priority for any vacancies at receiving campuses. And as I mentioned, we collected information from from them regarding their placements, and we'll work directly with our contracted staff to make sure we find them, a seat at an HISD campus for next year. And I do wanna emphasize that contracted staff will not lose employment with the district on the basis of closures. This is something that we have communicated from the very beginning that we will follow our, annual, review process or evaluation system.
And teachers who earn at least a progressing two or higher eval or earn a progressing one evaluation and are retained by their principal will receive an progressing one evaluation and are retained by their principal will receive and are guaranteed an equivalent position in the district for the 2627 school year. Monica, let me just jump in just for a second. And we've had these staff meetings and, parent meetings, and it's February and we will have many more. And questions can be answered between now and August. So there'll be plenty of time to if there are individual questions and each parent will get an individual call from their,
school, those questions can be answered. Staff will have other opportunities to to talk about HR issues or any other issues that they have. And, again, I will reiterate what, chief Grassley just said. Nobody will lose no contracted staff will lose their position based on closure. We have evaluations all the time. That process will will go on. But if the if there's not a spot for them in the in the other school, they will find a a similar we'll give them a similar position somewhere else in the district. A key date as well is that we have told our staff that no later
than April 17, they will have a staffing decision for employees at the closing campuses, and they will have this information before our usual open teacher transfer, opens for this year, and so they actually will still have the ability. If they didn't get a position that, you know, aligned with their interest, they still can go through our our normal open teacher transfer. So I wanted to to share what what is coming next. As the superintendent said, we we can we have transition support teams in place, that have been working with our our campus staff and families that will continue March
through June. We're making calls to each and every impacted family. We will host campus tours and welcome events, meet the teacher nights, enroll provide enrollment support. This was something that came up frequently at the family meetings that I wanna make sure to stamp here. That if the student transitions to from a closing campus to the receiving campus that we showed, on this slide, their the parent does not need to take any additional action action to enroll their student to make it as seamless of a transition as possible. We will continue to provide individual family support as needed,
for example, for our special education students, and our family connection center has continued to field questions and address family's concerns. The other thing that we heard frequently at the family meetings, was the desire to be involved in the legacy planning for the campus. And so we know that our campus communities have deep connections to their school and the physical facility. And so we will be standing up legacy committees in order to bring together staff, families, and community members invested in preserving the campus's history and traditions,
leveraging the existing site based decision making process. And we will continue to share, information via the school website, via school, newsletters on this process. And you see here, the timeline and breakdown of of what that will will look like. Separately, we will be convening a facilities usage committee in the late spring and summer to bring together stakeholders to provide input on the future facilities usage for the closing buildings. Monica, can I ask a question first? I attended,
Henderson last night, and one of the, topics was school choice. And I know that one of the reasons for the timing here Yes. Was related to school choice. Correct. Can you just go through the school choice options that are available to the students that are being impacted by this move and the timing that they will have to make their decisions, please? Yes. Absolutely. Thank you, Marty. So for school choice, if the what we shared at the family meetings was if the the families, want to pursue a different option than the receiving campus that we have proposed transitioning
the student to, they can go through our school choice, process, and we've extended the deadline to March 6 next, next Friday, to give families the opportunity to engage in that process. Would you please, respect our rules? Thank you. We had school choice. Choice representatives available at the Hang on there. When you go there You need to please let please let chief finish her presentation. Lord. Thank you. We had the school choice representatives available at every family meeting,
and that was part of the small groups. We held a whole group presentation to give information, and we had representatives at each of the family meetings from our special education department, our school choice department, and our family and communities engagement team, as well as division representatives. They were present at all of the meetings. Any other questions? Go ahead. Okay. Okay. So, again, as as we have stated, school closures are a difficult but necessary action to ensure the long term strength, sustainability, and quality of education for our students. And so we're focused on building a financially sustainable HISD with the resources to support
the vision for student success. Closures will allow us to consolidate and prioritize usage resources on these higher utilized campuses. Another theme that emerged at the family meetings was the question of facility readiness, and so I wanted to be sure to, reference that today. So our facilities maintenance and operations team have already completed preliminary walk throughs of each receiving campus to identify facility needs that will require work prior to the next school year. And we've stated some examples here.
If there are any heating and cooling system improvements, playground construction and maintenance were needed, safety and security upgrades, and in some cases, there are specific accessibility needs that we need to address, especially at our colocation sites. And so we will continue to work diligently to ensure all facility preparations are completed in a timely manner to ensure a smooth transition for our students. So we shared this at the February 12 board meeting, so I wanted to bring it up here again. The star indicates where we are today,
February 26. Here you see the the school choice window extension when school choice notifications will take place in April. Transition planning and welcome events will continue throughout the spring. Staffing decisions will be made in mid April again in time for teachers to go through, the normal open transfer period if they would like. And then the final day of school, June 4, is when the campus would close. And so you see here we have the mapped out all the steps that we need to take to ensure a smooth transition
for our students. And so in closing, again, this was not a decision that was made lightly. You see, the systematic process we took to review the data and then also make sure we are minimizing disruption as much as possible. It's a hard but necessary decision to position HISD for the future, and ensure that our our students can continue to have successful, educational careers. And we're committed to making the transition as smooth as possible for our students, our families, and our staff. I talked about many of these supports, and these supports will all continue throughout the spring and in the summer to,
again, make sure our families, our students, and our staff are all prepared for a successful start of school year 2627. Board members, before we do, any, any, questions, which I assume you have some, thank you for your presentation. I would like to get our general counsel, Katasha Woods, to walk us through board policy on this issue. So the relevant board policy here is c two local. And just for some clarity, c two local is, the board policy. C two two is the regulation. As a general rule, regulations govern, the behavior of the administration in implementing board policy.
So here, CT Local actually requires the, district to create, an objective criteria, and implement it across the board for school closures, which if you look at the slide presentation that Monica just went through, it demonstrates that there was a process using, evaluating all of the items that are required in CT two. We looked at the adequacy of the facilities. There was intensive, facilities. There was intensive, review of the instructional programs. We used a cross functional, group of team, members so to ensure that each of aspect of this was reviewed before closing school. We looked at the facilities.
We looked at whether or not the receiving school could get that could, adequately serve the students once they were transitioned over. So these are the, considerations that are required. It's what the regulation asks us to do before we bring a recommendation to the board. There's also a requirement for, allowing community input and also allowing notification. I think Monica reviewed for the board what that looked like here. There's not a set prescribed process in in the in the regulation. And so, this was the process that was used here.
And based on the regulation, the way it set forth, I know there's been a lot of attention to the timing here. The timing is when the CSO should actually submit the recommendation to the superintendent, and that actually did happen here. As the superintendent noted, there was a list of school closures. We developed this over, the first half of the school year, and and we paused that and then needed to to restart this process. And so based on those excuse me. Based on those, considerations, we have complied with the Board policy as it relates to,
the school closure analysis. Okay. Thank you. Board members questions? Go ahead. And I caution the audience that please let us run this meeting so that we can get through and then hear from the rest of the speakers. Go ahead. Thank you for the presentation. I want to revisit quickly to make sure I understand the slide that you had on the adjustment for the transportation, specifically the shuttle option that you mentioned. I want to thank you for the adjustment there. I know a lot of us, on the board received a lot of concern around,
transportation as an option. So I just want to clarify that a shuttle will be offered from the school that will be closed to the receiving campus. Is that, like a round trip shuttle? Right? Yes. We would offer several, kind of routes in the morning. I shouldn't use the word routes, but there will be several options for families, whose students currently walk to their closing campus to have a bus pick them up directly at the closing campus and go directly to the receiving campus, both in the AM and then in the PM back to the closing campus.
And that's based on the hours of your campus. Correct? So that's the NES campus. It's early and later. The shuttle will run based on the hours. Correct. So for example, we would run, like, four, different times in the morning based on the start time of the school. And then similarly in the evening, we would offer several, times where the, bus would go directly from the receiving campus to the closing campus, AM and PM. Thank you. Go ahead. Any other questions on the side? Again, it doesn't do you any good to have a conversation from the audience. There'll be plenty of discussions and plenty of time for people to understand exactly what
this is, but this is not the time to fire out a question. Okay? We're either gonna we are gonna continue this meeting and you understand the rules. Board president, I I do have a clarification if I can proceed. Just a clarification. Go ahead. Go ahead. We referred a lot to the FCI index. And just to make sure FCCI index. And just to make sure nobody makes an assumption, that's not something that was made in the last two weeks. This is something that I wanted to just clarify that in case there were any concerns about that number being something that was calculated in the last two weeks.
This has been something over some period of time. I'm familiar with it from the preparation for the bond that was that was pursued. But, that goes back even further than that. In other words, there's no secret that these that many schools in HISD have challenges, and this data has been consolidated to help us support that decision of of which schools have the most challenges that create safety concerns, especially for our kids. Yes. That's correct. None of the data points you see are are were calculated in the past two
two weeks. We look at those on an annual basis. And the FCI, again, I I know we talked about this, but it's the higher the number, the the lower the quality of the facility is. So the other piece that we look at annually, is that we know over time, right, the building degrades further and further. So part of our analysis was actually, again, looking, into the future and seeing where, you know, facilities that are progressively kind of getting worse over time, where, again, we don't have the the financial means to actually rebuild those facilities.
And to clarify again, objectivity, this isn't something that the district decides the condition of, the the way, the process, how how how the buildings have been evaluated. To to clarify that part would be helpful, I think. Actually, gonna invite chief Jolivette, who's our chief of facilities maintenance and operations, to help, give a little bit more clarity on that. Thank you. Good evening. I'm Alicia Jolivette, chief of facilities and maintenance operations. I do wanna clarify just on the facilities condition index, which is a a part of the decision making,
here. We actually did a Facilities Condition Assessment, which includes the FCI of the building. And so in the FCI, as well as the FCA, we look at the projections over time. And so what are the we look at the capital improvement requirements over time, as well as any deferred maintenance. We look at the demographic area, geographical area, and programs of current study as well as future study. So we did begin, doing facilities assessments way back in 2017.
We did another one in 2020. We did another refresh in 2023. I do wanna highlight whenever we do a facilities condition assessment, it is to look at over a period of time because it includes a capital investment, requirement. And so we did project out in 2023 what it might look like over a ten year span. And so without investing, into major capital improvement items, which we did do several campuses, right, during ESSER as well as with the maintenance tax notes that you all, reviewed.
There are still several campuses or many campuses that require capital improvements. Even with those capital improvements, looking at the projection over time, we have to look at is it costly to or is it cost effective to invest or replace? And unfortunately, the replacement numbers became higher and therefore, we have a higher FCI. There are weights included, which determine that overall FCI. And so looking at the mechanical, the electrical, and the plumbing needs, as well as, different other components,
ADA as well. Hopefully, that answered the question. Chief, while you're there, I mean, what what can you tell us about these schools that are up here on the left and closing just kind of big picture terms? So big picture terms, we do know you you wanna go campus by campus? No. Not necessarily. So, of course, when you look at the the closing schools with the higher FCIs, we also looked at the utilization, and we also looked at the capacity. And so those campuses that are on the left are moving into either a lower
FCI or a higher capacity campus. And that would like, it it stuck out to me that Briscoe, for example, is going to a higher FCI Yes. At Carrillo. That's driven by capacity? Driven by capacity. Yes. We are maintaining, all of the campuses. We're gonna continue to maintain all of the campuses. But, yes, it is driven by capacity there. It's more more generally, like, what what is the condition of these schools over here on the left? And and and I understand there's a little bit of variation, but what kind of shape are they in? Of course, we're not gonna put students in unsafe campuses.
We're gonna maintain the campuses, throughout this process. On the left, yes, they can they can, be improved by electrical upgrades, but we also need to look at our programs of study. And so when we look at the programs of study, are the campuses, are the classrooms set in such a way that it allows for better programming? Or are they stagnant in the areas that they're currently in? The campuses on the right are more are newer campuses, and so they are built with additional electrical capacities,
additional spacing requirements, and then common areas that can be converted. So in other words, like, not it's not always, like, obvious, like, walking in. Right? That there's real there's real challenges. Yes. Behind under the walls, under the building. I mean, it's a combination of different factors. Yes. And the safety part is great to to emphasize. I appreciate the main maintenance because I think there were a number of questions at some of the meetings. Like, if it's not safe, are my kids safe in there right now? Right. So thank you for emphasizing that. Yeah. So they are safe. We're not gonna put our kids in unsafe buildings.
May I ask you a little about the, the receiving schools that have the higher, higher FCI? So with Carrillo and then Pleasantville, it's in the seventies, which is not great. Are we gonna have a little bit of funds to are they gonna get some some resources? These camp do we have money to help those two campuses as they're receiving? Yes. We will have we we will have additional funds to, offset the cost for capital improvement requirements. With the Pleasantville and Port Houston, we know that both of those campuses yield a higher a higher SCI.
And so, of course, we wanted to make sure that we're investing into one building so that we could put the supports into that campus. And so Pleasantville has the greater, capacity for us to do that. Thank you. Okay. My my question is not on facilities. Okay. Thank you. It's on the process. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Few few rapid fires for you. K. K. I just wanna make this super simple super simple because we just got a tremendous amount of information, and this is an issue that affects individual families a lot.
So they're trying to pay attention to all of it. So I wanna just make sure we double double back on a couple of things. Okay. The programming. Mhmm. If I'm in a dual language school and the school I'm going to is is not does not have the same language programming, walk me through that. How does it work? So what we what we look to do was there's a difference between one way and two way dual language programming. And so what the the academics team looked at was what did the closing school have and what did the receiving school have. And then based on, the the number of emergent bilingual student speakers that they had,
they then made a decision around what was the best suited programming for the consolidated campus. Help me understand that in just regular if I had a program at my school Mhmm. I'm going to a different school. What's that what's that look like from a programming perspective? I'll just speak really quickly to the multilingual models that are available in Texas. And so there's really six models that we look at. We have dual language, one way, dual language, two way. We have something that we call early exit, late exit, and then ESL. All of the research supports that dual language is the type of multilingual programming model
that supports English proficiency and, helps students maintain their native language. And so we have been investing in dual language programming for the past three years. We have a lot more dual language programming options. And so when we looked at this, what we said is if any of the campuses, the sending or the receiving campuses, have dual language one way or two way, we wanna maintain that offering for their campus. So there was a couple situations where the receiving campus did not have dual language, but the closing campus did. We made sure that the receiving campus still had that dual language offering. Great.
Okay. So in in simple my simple way I understand this, if you had dual language, you keep dual language. Language. Okay. Alright. Okay. That's that's one. Yep. Alright. The the the second thing I saw, was a maybe I I don't want people to have to keep walking up, but, it was the around the stem point. There was a collocation stem point. Okay. So now this is, like, a little different Yes. Question but related. So if I if I'm going to a school if I if my historical school did not have STEM Mhmm. But then my new school does have STEM,
does that mean I get more? Correct. Yes. Can you explain that a little bit? So in these cases like this one here, where the magnet was just at McReynolds Middle School, only students at McReynolds Middle Schools are those that want transferred in through school choice had access to that program. Now by consolidating two middle schools, both the Fleming and the McReynolds students now have access to that STEM magnet. So we did look for situations where we could transfer programming in order to offer more. Great. So if I'm a family and I'm in one of these, effective,
schools that didn't have STEM and I'm moving to a a school that does have STEM, my family has access to more programming. Correct. Okay. Great. The transportation point, can we go to that slide? Because I thought that was a brilliant, call out by my colleagues. And I just wanted to I I just wanna understand it because it seems really amazing, a really amazing example of community school, collaboration even though it may may not have seemed like that. Okay? So It was directly in response to the feedback we heard at every family meeting. Yes. Right. So I just so this bottom eligibility criteria bullet,
it says two plus miles from new campus, but then you said that the average distance is 1.8 miles. That is it. So so so I just wanna make sure Yeah. What you're essentially saying is you are going to, provide more resort more transportation resources even outside of the normal framework of how we how the the district makes these decisions for the benefit of families who may be transportation challenged. And and we heard it. You know, I was in the back at Port Houston, and we heard about the railroad tracks, and we heard about those.
So for if you're a family if you're a family at Port Houston, there is a vehicle that will take you from Port Houston to Pleasantville. Pleasantville. Okay. I just Directly from Pleasantville back to Port Houston. And other schools too, but that's an example of where the distance, I believe, is less than two miles Yes. And there will be a shuttle that was created for the specific benefit of that community. Yes. Specifically, because we know since these are elementary schools, many students walk to their closing campus, and so that's why we wanted to provide this service.
Of course, there are some students that may take the bus to Port Houston, and in those cases, they would continue to have transportation directly to their campus. But for those and we know there are many who walk from Port Houston to Pleasantville. They can continue to walk to Port Houston. There will be a bus that will take them from there to Pleasantville directly. Great. Okay. And then the last point, I know thank you for accommodating me in these questions. Okay. My my last question is how do families communicate with the team here. Right? So I heard just a few different pieces.
We're making calls to families. We're communicating on Parent Square. We're we we have phone numbers that parents can call us Yes. Both both in monitored in English and Spanish. Can you just go through that the, like, the ways that we can families can reach out to us with questions and the and the ways that they should expect to hear from us in the coming weeks? Yes. Thank you for asking that. So we have always had the family connection center, that phone number we've sent out on every single letter that went out to families. In addition to that, based on the, we had some family meetings that were really highly attended.
We had others that weren't. And so we made the decision as a team based on the participation rates to make sure that we still made individual phone calls to every single family that was impacted. And we're maintaining a call log where we're tracking what their concerns are so that if there was something we couldn't address on the line, they will receive a follow-up phone call to address that concern. So if they have a SPED question, they will get a callback from someone in the SPED department who can help address that need. That that's great. So thank you. And I just wanna encourage us to make sure every family has that number to
be able to reach us and and, and and just appreciate the effort. You know, behind the scenes, there are a lot of people who who, you know, worked really hard to to build these systems and and communicate with these families, and so we appreciate that. And, look, the reality is, is like I always say, there are there are thousands of families who don't show up to these meetings who are just trying to get real answers to real issues that, you know, matter around the dinner table. Mhmm. I'm one of those families I know. So the fact that we can just consistently communicate and keep those lines open and
talk and talk and overshare and overshare, I think it'll it'll land where it needs to land. So thank you. And that's and that's thank you for our our commitment again has been to work directly with the families impacted by these changes. Okay. Appreciate your, you have one more? Okay. Go ahead. So you hear the this concern about SPED and IEPs. I I see it here on this slide. I also know on the other slide, you said that we will continue, the students' mandated IEPs. But can you talk a little bit starting with the law Mhmm.
About what we are required legally to do and what we will continue to do? Yes, ma'am. So, every student has an individual education plan that dictates the instructional setting for that student. One of the things we're doing across special education across the board is, really looking to make sure that schools are staffed appropriately to meet students based on their educational setting. And so for all campuses, there are a set of, special education teachers that we will staff for campuses to make sure that it supports students who, generally are are seen in an inclusion model.
So we have a lot of special education students that sit in our general education classrooms but that need additional supports across the board. You can even, you can even look at autism, for example, where some of those students actually sit in our general education classrooms and just need some additional support around social skills, for example. That's not true across the board. But, just saying, across all campuses, we wanna staff special education based on the minutes required for all of those special education students that sit at that campus to be serviced. And that's how we think about providing teachers at a particular campus.
And there are some specialized programs that are highly specialized. We have students that, they, they're very they're medically fragile, and they require even one to one support at times. And those services don't sit on every campuses because they're very resource intensive. And we want to invest in them so that they can be really strong as well. So across all of our campuses, again, the students who are sitting in our general education classes will be provided with special education teachers and services, and then we'll be working to make sure that our self contained classes with highly
specialized programs have the right support and the right staff so that those students can have their IUPs met. And that is our commitment in in this process. There's no there's no no difference. So that's our commitment in in this and then what does it mean? Why do we have a special thing people are concerned about transportation? So what is our commitment with IEPs and transportation? So whenever we, are looking at an IEP, there's a section that actually looks at whether a student needs transportation because of their disability. And that's outlined in their IEP. And when that answer is yes,
we make sure that regardless of where that student is, we provide that student with transportation support. So if you need transportation as a related service, that is provided to you as a student, as a part of your individual education plan. Thank you for that clarification. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for the presentation. We will now We will now, excuse me, we are now going to hear from the remaining registered speakers from Group B, first in person then Zoom. So we have we have seats in the front row reserved for the next group
of speakers, so please occupy those seats. Please come to the mic microphone and your number to order beginning with number 37, and then, miss Smith will call the Carmen Duencio starting with campuses, and we weren't called in the first group. So we're gonna go now because I'm sorry. We have registered speakers. Number 37 is miss Duencio. Hang on a second. I'm sorry. You you, and were you did you register to speak? Yeah. So if, you know, it turns out y'all did communicate very clearly and welcome us expecting parents into this process to question Excuse me.
Then say your name. Say your name. State your name. State your name. My name is Okay. You may begin. Go ahead. Okay. Thank you. Three years ago, my kid attended an excellent neighborhood school. She checked out books every week from her library and was stopped by experienced, qualified, certified teachers who challenged her creativity and critical thinking skills and had devoted their lives to our to our community. I got it.
I got it to you for boys. But for the past three years, I've had to watch as you destroy this school piece by piece. You forced out a beloved principal because she wouldn't bend her knee to policies that harm our children. You replace books with worksheets, close the library, replace teachers with screen time, which we know harms children's learning, mental health Ma'am, your time is up. To your terrible policy Ma'am,
your time is up. Your time is up. Ma'am, your your behavior is disrupting this public meeting and impeding the abilities the board's ability to conduct school business. This is your first warning. If you continue to impede the process, you'll be asked to leave the building. Ma'am, you've had your warning. Ma'am, your time is up. Ma'am, you continue to disrupt this meeting despite my warning, I'm now asking you to leave the meeting. So please, would you have her escorted? You had your warning. Please leave the meeting. The Board is going to take a quick recess. This meeting is
we'll begin the meeting. We'll reconvene the meeting. Why are you doing this to our kids? By law, you're supposed to let us know in advance about the closures of our schools. But then again, you've never gone by the law. I think it's high time that somebody holds you accountable for the horrible things you are doing to our kids. I was at Port Houston Elementary, Monday, and my heart went out to the parents there. Some of them were crying because of what you're doing to them. These kids are our pride and joy,
and you treat them like they're nothing. We're gonna have to figure out how to replace Greg Abbott and Marath. So maybe, Miles, you can go with them because this is too much what y'all are doing to our kids. It hurts our heart, and I pray that God forgives you, mister Miles, for what you're doing to our kids. Thank you. Jackie Anderson, president of the Houston Federation of Teachers, Mike Miles and all of you aiders and abettors. School boards can be held liable for not providing or negligee providing transportation in unsafe
situations, particularly if they fail to uphold a duty of care, ignore known hazards, or violate safety protocols. While governmental immunity often directs protects districts, it does not apply to gross negligence or reckless disregard for student safety. I'm putting you all on notice. Thank you. Tanya Wells, followed by Kathy Beasley. Good evening, board members. My name is Tanya Wells, and I am the executive director of the Independent Heights redevelopment council. And I am strong, I am in strong opposition of closing Burris Elementary.
Independent Heights is the first black city in Texas. We built that city because we had no access, and people refused to let us in. So we made our own. We took care of our own. We are a historic city in Houston, and we deserve that respect. Our children deserve that respect. Hattie Mae White, for whom this building is named after, attended the original Independence Heights School, which was renamed to James d Burris Elementary
School. You wanna partner with someone Thank you. Thank you. Your time is up. Thank you. Thank you. My name is Kathy Beasley. In 1978, I was a sixth grader at Bonham Elementary. One field trip that year was a week long exchange visit to Port Houston Elementary School. This was one of HISD's progressive and beneficial initiatives for the whole community. What you are doing now is destroying a community. Your desire to close 12 schools in underserved areas is a choice you made by your calculated dismantling of this district.
You have no interest in underprivileged and underserved students in this city, and you have been corrupted by your unchecked, nefarious power. You want us to believe that you've been forced to choose this situation because of falling attendance, but you are the cause. You can distort it all you want with your farcical media, but we aren't fooled. I treasure the time I spent at Port Hill Elementary Port Houston Elementary. Favorite memories from a district that helped shape me. It's not too late for you to save that school and all the others if you step off this path of shamefulness on which you tread. Thank you. Thank you.
Alright. I'm Travis McGee, South Park Super Neighborhood President, Sanity South Civic Leader. The takeover has always been about money and real estate. We got money, Mike, here with charter schools. We got real estate, Rick, here with the real estate. That's a huge conflict of interest, and I don't know why any of y'all can't see that. Closing schools is more surplus property. Consolidated school is more surplus property. There's just another form of gentrification that's gonna happen in the black and brown neighborhoods. So we need y'all to not just recuse yourself from the board. We need y'all to get off of this board,
period. Because it's all about money. You have proven time and time again that the other than the legislation being horrible, y'all make worse decisions than that legislation that got us to this point. So we need y'all just to take it off the table, period. I am Don McGune. I speak against the closure of Port Houston Elementary and relocation of students to Pleasantville Elementary. I spoke here on the same matter in 2024 prior to the bond proposal soundly rejected by voters. This time, the voters will have no say. I find myself returning to the same atmosphere created by the superintendent of deception,
cruelty, and division. The problems for Port Houston remain the same due to its unique location and geography. There is no safe pedestrian route from Port Houston to Pleasantville. Based on your past performance, your new promise of transportation is worthless. Fort Houston has been underserved by government for decades. The school is the only functioning government institution in the neighborhood, and now even it will be lost. The school is the heart of this community. The administration ignores these issues. The board must now decide who are you here to serve.
Thank you. Administrator. Thank you. Hi. My name is Innocentia Moreno, and I'm a community member. And I can see that this presentation has been going on for some time now. We, the people, need to know what's happening, and we have not been involved. Nobody has discussed this with us or the families. I work with kids in foster care, and I see the traumatic effects of kids being moved from one area, from one school to another. We need to see what impact it is gonna happen to these kids. Burris Elementary is a 100 years old.
It's a significant landmark in a historical community. We cannot change that. We need to preserve our history and take care of our kids and watch for the mental effects and emotional effects that this is gonna do to our families. Thank you. Thank you. I am doctor Coretta Mallefantno. The selling of various school properties and and the related, matters, that's what I'm speaking about tonight. The relationship between the current board of managers and the appointed superintendent must contain two elements and the community,
trust and transparency. The Houston community does not trust any of you because you have not been transparent throughout this process. It was originally reported that consideration of school closures was not being considered for this year. That was obviously a breach of trust and transparency. The community also opposes the selling of these properties because this board and its appointed leader have not been transparent with the community. Again, we are watching the gripping of HISD in real time. No trust, no transparency, no bond.
We are prepared. Let's go. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Christine Hamilton. I'm a parent, and my daughter is in the third grade at Carrillo Elementary School. When we joined Carrillo, we had an a rating. Since the state takeover, we have seen major instability, constant changes in administration, significant budget costs, and the loss of over 50% of our teachers. Last year's principal struggled with perfect with effective leadership and career dropped to a d rating. We are now on our fourth principal in three years, and my daughter has had non certified teachers for the last two.
Our teachers are overwhelmed and our children are paying the price. The proposal to consolidate schools may have merit in theory, but only if supported by a robust change management plan. At Tuesday's parent meeting, the district could not articulate a plan and contradicted the data provided here today. This reflects the same lack of support that we have experienced these last three years. Without stable leadership, Correo cannot successfully abort 50% more students and teachers. So I ask the board respectfully to vote no. Thank you. Thank you. My name is Jovan Tyler.
I am a community leader. Historians have entrusted each of you with a solemn responsibility, the stewardship of our children's futures. The decision to close black and brown schools is not a matter of lines on a spreadsheet. It is a matter of life in motion. We have been told this is about efficiency, but efficiency without equity is abandonment by another name. A neighborhood school is often a a safe place in a child's life, where mentors intervene when a when a child falls behind, when counselors notice distress before crisis,
where the community gathers in times of triumph and tragedy. Do you care? Doesn't seem like it. In closing, I'll I'll ask what the gentleman asked earlier. With these black and brown kids in their schools, do any of you live in those communities? Other than visiting recently, have any of you been to those communities? I think the answer is probably no, and shame on you. Thank you. Speaker 47, Desi Arellano, and speakers 48 through 58, could you please move to the front rows? Thunder Chen. My name is Thunder, and I'm with the Houston PSL, the party for socialism and liberation. A better education,
a better world is not only possible, but necessary. Thank you for being here and fighting for it. I'm going to lead a few chants right now. I encourage you to stand up and chant with me. Let's go. Speaker 49, Cindy Cindy Curra. Speaker 50, Christy Brewster. And the only thing as a mom, if you guys are parents, to consider the option of not shutting down the schools. This is the school that I'm representing is not just a school. It's a home where we feel there are kids safe. So I welcome y'all to go and give a walk from Port Houston to Pleasantville
that is not a safety area. So for now, I'm gonna let y'all know, if y'all consider shutting down the the pork history, I'm gonna make sure that everybody removes their kids from anti steam. Thank you. We have, state representative Lauren Ashley Simmons here. So if you'd like to go ahead. You you may Good evening to my family and friends, not y'all so much. I always have very measured remarks that I work on very hard before I get here, and then I get here and I see the smug faces and the smirks, and it just goes all out the window. Extremely disappointed that I'm here once again standing before you pleading on behalf of my
community. 12 schools. 12 schools. One in my district, Alcott Elementary. Have y'all ever been to the campus? Have you ever set foot on it? Met the teachers, met the principal, seen the kids, any of that at all. These are not your schools. This is still a public district. Still a public district. We're taxpayers. There's something very Trumpian about the way you're running this district like a dictatorship, a board of sycophants, people who yell in the audience at community members about scoreboard. If this is a game, our children are losing. And y'all not winning either. I say this every time.
He's on leave. Knock on wood sooner than later. Y'all will still be here. I looked you up. I you're new because I guess the other two people that used to be here that told you no once couldn't come back. You're on Texas Southern's Board of Regents currently too? What? What a track record. Wow. What to be said? Tearing our community limb from limb. And all y'all can do is think about the money to be made from the sale of this property. Right. Right. These are people. These are children. These are students. These are our communities. This is our future. I wanna live in a city with a well educated populace.
I wanna live with people who can discern fact from fiction, who are not taking art of thinking classes with misspelled curriculum and passages with questions that don't line up. I had to sit Michael Moran down in my office when I was in session and show him not just one, two, three, or four, hundreds. And you can shake your head, Angela. I'll bring it to you too if you if you need to see it. Hundreds of incorrect pieces of curriculum. It's ridiculous. And you can blame and say, oh, because we worked against you about that bond.
That bond money was not gonna keep those schools open. There's natural attrition. There's a low birth rate. But you know what it really is? It's you. You exacerbated the crisis we're in right now. People are fleeing this district because of you and the rest of you. Look confused all you want. Like I said, this room is not full for no reason. It's you. Own the responsibility. These are our schools. Our schools. We're not here for no reason. Shell Brewster, you're a retired certified Emeritus School nurse. I'm back, Floyd. We're still here,
but we're reclaiming our time. Spotlight in your educational math practice. This is public Texas Public School Week. Oh, yes. Right? Stand if you support public ed. Yeah. You said we didn't have any money for maintenance and HVAC and repairs. So you're gonna close twelve. You said we didn't have adequate money for adequate transportation, but you found something to put the children in a taxi or something, gonna take them to the other school. You said we didn't have money, but you found money to give this pseudo certified deputy a position. And then you found 2,000,000
to come up with your new TV station so you can say the whole truth, but it ain't the truth. Greg Abbott, you better come get this boy. He's messing with your vote at the poll. Thank you. Thank you. Your time is up. Thank you. Speaker 51, Adrianna Trishopoulos. My name is Adrianna Christopoulos, and I'm a former Chicagoland educator teaching there during CPS's school closures, an applicant to the board of managers, a former HISD and TEA vendor, and Houstonian here to urge you to vote no on this closure plan,
not because HISD can forever avoid school closures, but because how and when they are closed matters. PACER's 2024 meta analysis on school closure research lists multiple studies that document negative impacts on displaced students' academic performance in the announcement year, the year following the closure, and in some cases, the long term, as well as negative impacts student negative impacts on student achievement in receiving schools. This vote works against to date effort and headway towards student achievement at HISD. And for a board and administration that say they value data and evidence,
the absence of meaningful community input is directly at odds with research based best practices that consistently emphasize adequate time and community collaboration. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Katharine Maier, and I'm the executive director of Neighbors in Action. We're a community center located in Port Houston and have worked with the school in Port Houston for thirty one years serving approximately 800 children, youth, and parents. We've strategically planned and built our programs around this partnership. The school is the heart of the community that is already cut off by railroad
tracks and industry with no major grocery store, no clinic, limited transportation, unsafe walkways. The school is the anchor of stability and trust. It functions like a family. Teachers often grew up in this very neighborhood and understand its particular needs. Parents are involved because they trust the school and that trust cannot simply be transferred. Children learn best when they feel safe, known, and supported. My question is also what happens to transportation after those two years and what happens to transportation for parents. I urge you to consider what disclosure would mean for a community that already carries
so much and at the least postpone your votes and Thank you. Thank you. Evening. Amy Erickson, HIST parent. My family zone school is one on the slate that's for close for co collocations. Month after month, families show up here and talk about transparency and process. Time after time, you guys have ignored it. This is an opportunity with these closures to do something different, and you've chosen not to. I'm gonna speak from a parent's perspective, watching these meetings, and, what you've been focusing on. Over the summer, you removed board members who dared ask questions. August and September,
you dismantled and destroyed communities like Durham with your Schools of Focus plans. And then you approved the superintendent's absurd bonus. October and November, parents erroneously learned that their children failed the STAAR test while you spent millions on the HISD propaganda channel. December, gutting CTE programs at high performing schools and selling all five properties. January, prioritizing a conference room dedication over the urgent needs of our students. Our children will not be victims of your poor planning and Abbott's Thank you. Thank you. And the state of birth.
Thank you. I'm doctor Ruth Hoffman Black. I don't have the arrogance to think I can speak for this woman. This is her speech. You can either let her read or you can let me read it and be really hypocritical. Hello, everyone. My name is Tasheba Dixon. I am the parent of three students at Port Houston Elementary. Closing Port Houston in June is a rash decision, and we need to slow down. The impending closure violates your own CT two policy, which outlines timing, notification, and collaboration standards. This demonstrates that any declaration of transparency and partnership with parents is disingenuous. How long was decision pen the decision pending? If for some time,
that means there was no transparency and we are not truly partners. Partners decide together. Otherwise, you're handlers, not partners. True value doesn't lie in quantity, but in quality. The quality of the relationships that are being torn apart, the quality of the community that's being destroyed, the quality of the legacy being erased. Port Houston matters. Any changes must be must be approached with care, foresight, and community engagement. They also haven't addressed SPED. SPED is Thank you. Thank you. My name is Jeff, and I'm a father and a member of the PSL Party for Socialism and Liberation.
The TAA takeover has never been about improving education standards nor benefiting students. This has always been about billions of tax dollars that the largest school district in Texas and the eighth largest district in The United States rightly receives. These tax dollars belong to the working class. And the decision to close down 12 schools is further proof that this is all about money. The decision to take over HISE and close 12 schools was made to steal property and push a racist privatization of education and line the pockets of politicians,
corporate donors, and school board members that made this decision in the first place. Sealing our hard earned tax dollars and diverting it to a voucher system that will benefit only those that already have access to these education. These school closures are all about selling school property to real estate developers. So what will happen to these kids when they're Thank you. Ruth Kravitz and speakers 58 through 68, could you please come to the front rows? Good evening. My name is Ruth Kravitz. Your demographic projections left out any data about old schools in white,
more affluent neighborhoods. If you have to close schools, why are you only targeting black and brown schools? Lawyer lawyer Katasha Woods said HISD has been working on these closures decisions for a long time, but the public just found out two weeks ago. So more word salad. What's this so called legacy planning after closure? Does it mean we'll call you right before we sell off the properties? You state this is fiscally necessary, but you said you want to spend another 2,000,000 on your HISD news station. At the Franklin meeting, when a parent complained, the district said if you don't like it,
you can leave HISD. How is that fiscal stewardship? These closures are one more insult in a long line of racist policies for Miles and this board. You aren't elected, so we can't replace you for your bad decisions. But this is fundamentally democratic. We live in America, and this is a bad representation of what we want for our future. Speaker 58. Speaker 58, Colette Robichaud. Thank you. I am a community member and a grandparent of four grandchildren in HISD, and only one is currently in in an HISD school.
My local school, elementary school, Durham Elementary, experienced immediate student enrollment decline because this administration went in and abruptly changed the curriculum two days before school began in August, as well as removing a well respected and excellent third grade teacher. I live down the street from Durham, and I am witnessing firsthand fewer and fewer neighborhood walkers. Your own policies and actions are responsible for the decline in HISD enrollment.
And this is happening in Durham when in my neighborhood, there is an escalating number of new families with children moving in. So your decline is in reverse Thank you. Thank you. Your time is up. Thank you. Doctor Denise Livings Wilborn. I speak tonight with a heavy heart. I can usually find a bit of humanity in just about anyone. As hard as I try, I can find zero. Zero. Logic, compassion, ethical actions, honesty, or transparency
in any of the decisions made by you, the appointed board. Month after month, we come here. Before you, we give you evidence of your decisions being illegal, being unethical, manipulated data, month after month. Our students share their experiences of y'all dismantling their education. And y'all smirk. You do your cute little head nods. You hide behind your monitors. Thank you. Speaker, 60. 61,
Joetta Stevenson. Hello. I'm Joetta Stevenson. I'm the president of the Greater Fifth Ward Superneighborhood, and I'm here to urge you to vote no on this for right now. You see, I attended the parent community meeting at Nikki Leland the other, last week, and I realized that you all are not prepared to handle this decision these decisions that you've made. We all know that 95% of schools that have been closed over the past twenty or so years have been in black and brown communities.
So let let let's just put that out there. Right now, you're trying to move two middle schools, close them on the East Side Of 5th Ward, move them well almost two miles away, not quite, to another school, and you think you're gonna have children in the sixth grade in the same building where children are already there. They are 18 years old. I I don't understand that. That that that's not safe. That's not that's wrong. Thank you. Thank you. Your time is up. Thank you. Your time is up. Your time is up. Your time is up. Your time is up.
Thank you. Good evening, chair, board, members, and superintendent. My name is Billy Williams. I'm here to represent the hu the historic Boris neighborhood. The face this face based leadership stands with the community and firm opposition of the proposed closure of James DeBoris Elementary. James DeBoris is not just a building. It's a living landmark. For generations, it has been the heart of our historic black neighborhood, a place of learning, stability, and pride. Closing it would not just shut a school. It served as a vital thread in our community community's fabric,
and it erases a tangible piece of our history. After decades of systemic disinvestment, closing an institution that has endured feels like profound injustice, total disrespect. Listen. We are not here to say no. We're here to say yes. Yes to preserving our history, just yes to investing in our neighborhoods, children, and yes to partnering. Thank you. Thank you. If you're gonna speak, get to the podium, please. Partnership with Collaborative for Children. This is a half baked idea.
HISD bid this hub thing, and only one entity that was acceptable responded. Two levels of middlemen, each getting a taste. HISD itself and then this hub. And then at the bottom, these, for profit pre k's. This is a scheme to move public money into private hands that incidentally allows miss Holt to take credit for preexisting pre k seats. Why are we enriching for profit daycares? Miss Hall doesn't know if this will expand the seats or even who will do
the background checks. She has no idea what pre k's the hubs are going to choose. She says instructional quality might go up, but what if these people just pocket the extra dollars they're gonna get from the state? We'll be giving away our money. We don't Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Minh Dawn Tran followed by Brandy Douda. It's Mindon Tran. I'm an HISD teacher, and I'm going to continue miss Daisy Arellano's speech because y'all cut her off. Just a reminder, she's a parent, community member, and alumna of Port Houston. On a personal level,
she says the school shaped her. Within these walls, I was seen and encouraged. Today, I see that same transformation happening in my own child. Before coming here, school was a place of frustration and self doubt. Now my child is confident, thriving, and proud. Fort Houston Elementary is more than a school. It is stability. It is support. It is community. It provides meals before and after school care and a safe place within walking distance for families without reliable transportation, especially in unpredictable Texas weather. We are not asking for special treatment. We are asking for transparency and fairness.
We are asking you to pause this decision, meet with our families, walk our campus, Hear directly from the parents and teachers who live this reality every day. Please remember, you are not voting on a building. You are deciding the daily safety and future of real children. Please choose Thank you. Now you've already spoken. Correct? I understand y'all are money hungry. But can I do something about the AC? Because Sit down, please. Thank you. Brandy Douda followed by Mindy Wilson. Brandy Douda followed by Mindy Wilson. I'll use my teacher voice. Good evening. Brandy Datta, former librarian of Burris Elementary.
Vote no. I took great pride at being part of such a historic school and being able to provide literacy opportunities to my students. Generations of children have attended Burris Elementary. The current principal is a former student. I noticed that the historical schools in Rice and West View neighborhoods are not up for closure. So if sitting on this board is part of a career or political agenda, I have bad news for you. You are nothing. Nothing, just another footnote in a long history of oppression and systemic racism. Your names won't even be remembered.
There is no longer even the pretense that this is about democratic process or school improvement than the words of poet of, poet laureate laureate Amanda Gorman, while democracy can be periodically delayed, it can never be permanently deleted. Victory won't Your time is up. Ma'am? You are not chosen by the people, yet you presume to close schools that serve under underprivileged communities, schools that anchor black and brown neighborhoods, schools that are more than buildings. They are safe havens.
They are community centers, and they are symbols of hope. When you shut these doors, you are not balancing a budget. You're saddling it in the backs of families who already carry the heaviest burdens. You are asking children to travel farther, feel less seen, less valued, and less important. And let's be honest, these closures never seem to land in wealthy ZIP codes. Representation without accountability breeds injustice. You are going to make decisions that reshape entire communities. Then you should answer directly to those communities. Our children are not line items.
Our neighborhoods are not expendable. It's clear you're afraid of us, and Houston will never forget, and we will never forgive you. Thank you. Camille Breaux followed by Sarah Rivlin. Could all remaining speakers come to the front row, please? I'm reading for Maria Gueron, who is a mother from Port Houston who couldn't be here tonight. This is another part of her speech. We ask you why are our schools closing? Many of our questions remain unanswered. You're clearly not thinking about the children. Have you thought about their routes to their new schools? Have you actually looked?
Many children will not be eligible for bus service, and some routes are dangerous. Parents don't have transportation to take their kids somewhere else. They feel lost and don't know what to do, and you've given them no solutions. I tell myself that you must not know what you are doing is harmful because how could you? How could you rush this? I also wanna note that she all of these there's so many families that are not here tonight, and that feels like it's by design. This room would be filled if it were Travis or anywhere else. They don't have the ability to come here and tell you the hard truth.
They don't have that ability, and you didn't give them that ability either. Thank you. Hello. Board of managers, I know that you're well meaning people and I know that you think you're doing what's best for the children of Houston. I know that you're trapped in an echo chamber that we are not privy to and we don't know what you're going through. But I do want to point out to you that you were called in because of the scores of one school. And under Mike Miles, the changes that have been taken place are permanent. We cannot get these properties back.
We cannot open these schools back. Mike Miles is treating HISD properties like an ATM machine. We lost 42 of our teachers in the first year of the takeover and 33% uncertified. That is on your watch. Please don't close these schools. This Thank you. Good evening. My name is Darion Lewis. I am speaking on behalf of Mickey Leland's PTO. And tonight, I've had the pleasure of watching this meeting and watching as everything has unfolded has given me great pause because there has not been enough detail expressing what will happen
to Leland. Mickey Leland is an institution in the 5th Ward community, and I ask you as you sit on this board to honor your fiduciary responsibility to our community and to our staff and to our students to focus on the data. Transparent data is essential. We also need to have meaningful discussions surrounding the closures and the consolidations, like simple things like transportation, restrooms. Mickey Leland is an all boys academy. It is not set up for a dual situation with boys and girls. We are a middle school and a high school.
By consolidating, you're bringing not only middle school together but high school students together. I ask that you really evaluate this data that you've been presented. Not every Thank you. Good evening. My name is Martie Page. I'm president of Super Neighborhood Independent Heights precinct judge of 195, a member of the IHRC Council, and most importantly, I'm a proud graduate of James D. Burch Elementary School. Reproductive people are produced. Through the community partnership with Columbia Residential, we just broke ground on a two twenty one unit apartment complex at the corner
of Yale And Crosstimme. That being said, I'm here to petition that you do not close James d Borris Elementary. There are three viable, really simple solutions to this problem. Number one, you increase our boundaries back to 16 in cross timbers and I 45 to Shepherd. At this time, our boundaries only go from kneeling to 45, which is a third of which our boundaries were at first. We also include that, secondly, you return our formal magnet programs. Our children don't want to go to a school that has no challenging and nothing fun to do. Return our ballet.
Return our children's choir. Return our, gymnastics, and let the band Thank you. An undeserved man from jail right now. We got more Thank you. Thank you. Your time's up. Thank you. Miles is aware enough to say that it breaks his heart that the schools affected by his proposed closures and collocations are in black and brown neighborhoods. But apparently, he's not willing to admit that when the result of your action is further racial disparity, that is a racist action. I urge you to do the moral thing tonight and vote no on the whole
consent agenda. For those of you who vote yes, shame on you. What's more, the nine of you are here by temporary appointment on the pretense of pulling Wheatley High School out of a low state rating. As appointees who don't represent any of the families here tonight, you should not be making irreversible changes to their schools. Instead, you should vote no, leave, and let our elected trustees handle these decisions. Thank you. It's Black History Month, Ambiano, by the way. Do you want your legacy to be that you voted to close only black and
brown schools? Mister Miles will point to low enrollment, but there are small schools with different demographics that are not on the chopping block. Also, have you wondered why attendance is floundering and may have decreased more dramatically at the schools you're closing? Mister Miles is responsible as schools in the socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods were the one where his unproven NES system was initially and more forcefully imposed. Children and parents are fleeing those schools and are helping bolster enrollment in the non NES schools who would see a decline otherwise as wealthier parents move their kids to
private school. My son's seen many classmates leave, but they've been replaced by NS NES refugees. Board of managers, you believe that you're helping children in our school district, but you're causing great harm instead. Start listening to parents, teachers, students, and community members, and do the right thing. Don't close these schools. These communities are already underserved. And the breaking thing. Boo. Where's next one? Thank you. Thank you. We're ready to move to Zoom speakers. Kristin Jones, You may begin. Ms. Jones, we can't hear you. Sorry. Begin again. You can't hear me?
Go ahead. Okay. Members of the board, thank you for the opportunity to speak. My name is Kristen Jones. I'm a parent and the founder of Neighbors in Action, which has been serving Port Houston families for thirty one years. Port Houston Elementary is more than just a campus. It's an anchor in the community. Your governance framework states the board ensures that the district planning and decision making process enables all segments of the community, parents, and professional staff to meaningfully contribute. Poor Houston and community leaders have been blindsided by this move to close the school.
They have not been a part of the conversation. Now they are using their voices with courage and clarity. They are asking you to protect what is working. A school with a B rating, which provides stability and strengthens trust. Children learn best when they're emotionally safe, supported, and rooted in a trusted community. Please listen to the parents and the community and reevaluate this decision tonight. Thank you. Chelsea Jordan, you may begin. Good evening. My name is Chelsea Jordan, and I was an educator at Mickey Leland for eight years. Mickey Leland's building was purpose built to be a single gender school.
There are multiple boys' bathrooms but one girls' bathroom in the entire building. This is an obvious example of HISD making decisions without explaining logistics. Renovations are not a simple option because the boys' bathrooms are regular sized and there's no space to physically put additional bathrooms. The district can't even fix the building's AC, which has been broken for over five years, but you're potentially suggesting that HISD will be able to do significant plumbing renovations in this time, and time to receive students in August. HISD is planning on sending girls to a school that only has one girl's bathroom,
and I can guarantee you that HISD will not construct more. Thank you. Amy Van Vockel, please turn your camera on. Jessica Catchert, you may begin. Jessica Catrett, can you turn your audio on? We can't hear you. There we go. Okay. Start again, please. We have an audio issue. Can you try again? Miss Catchert? Okay. We'll wait till the back works on that. Anna Stone. Miss Catcher, we'll come back to you in just a minute. Go ahead, Anna Stone. Hi. My name is Anna I'm a mom to two young kids, elementary school aged kids. I've actually chosen to homeschool my kids because of HISD's,
education policies. I don't think it's a good idea for you guys to be closing these schools. You say you're gonna be moving them to other campuses, yet these other campuses are also underserved. You're not talking about making improvements to these campuses. You've mentioned some of them have infrastructure issues as well, just not as bad as the ones that are being closed. It's not right to ask kids to move to a new school, have to reaccustom themselves to a new schedule, to new, new layout, and then to also maybe in another couple years,
say, hey. This school's too dilapidated, and now we're gonna close this one too. You're not talking about making new schools to replace these ones you're closing. You're just talking about displacing children and making it harder on community members. Thank you. Miss Catrett? I'm sorry. We don't we're not able to hear you. Hello? Can you hear me? Yes. Please go ahead. I'm here I'm here in support of Burris Elementary. When I moved to Independence Heights, mister Woods was the principal. And even though I didn't have kids in school, I I was always there.
I went to a community conference at at Burris. I voted at Burris. I met Burris students when they were out in the community, when the band would play, or when the when the dance troupe would perform at local events. This is a school that received a national blue ribbon designation from the US Department of Education when mister Woods was principal. And according to the DOE report, student performance skyrocketed from fifty percent of students passing the standardized math test to 100%. Same with reading.
So what I'm saying is that this school is exemplary both in terms of its academic performance and in terms of its role in the community. More students, I feel, should be routed to Burris, not fewer. To close this school is to destroy what this community has lovingly built over the last hundred plus years. Thank you. Miss Catrett, your audio shows it's on, but we can't hear you. I'm sorry, I think we have to move on. That concludes our speakers. Okay. That concludes our hearing of speakers. And now we'll consider actions on the agenda. Board policy requires board members to abstain from all decisions,
discussion and votes pertaining to contracts that might involve conflict of interest. All board policy BBFA local defines a conflict of interest as any circumstance that could cast a doubt on a Board member's ability to act with total objectivity with regard to the District's interest. Do I have a motion to approve tonight's agenda by consensus? And you may have to get your computers back on by the way as well. Yes, you have to sign in. Can somebody help him sign in? You hit my computer, and then click on the screen.
Click on the screen. Okay. We have a motion and a second. So board members please vote. The motion the motion passes. This meeting is this meeting is adjourned. Our next meeting is March 19.